Boland to keep focusing on threats to infrastructure

AUGUSTA/SANFORD — State Representative Andrea Boland, of Sanford, will continue to serve on the legislature’s State and Local Government Committee and Government Oversight Committee.

She also will continue her work on the “security of the electric grid, awareness of the health, safety and security threats of cell phones and wireless smart grid technology, especially to children, elderly, and the sick, and smarter health care through a serious focus on supporting healthy alternatives to high cost pharmaceutical consumption and medical procedures when they can be avoided,” she stated in a recent press release. Boland added that she considers these issues key threats to economic, environmental, financial, and personal health.

Voters reelected Boland to represent District 142 during the election on Nov. 6.

Boland recently returned from a summit in Washington, D.C., that focused on “High-Impact Threats to Critical Infrastructure.” During the summit, Assistant Secretary of Defense Paul Stockton and others emphasized the need to act to generate power and control it locally to protect against the long-term collapse of the grid from major solar storms and man-made terrorist devices.

“Congress and state legislatures are not responding to the challenge, and utilities are resistant to act at all,” Boland stated in her news release.

Boland was a U.S. delegate to an international infrastructure summit in London in May.

“While grid collapse is a global concern, the U.S. is the most vulnerable country in the world,” she said.

Boland added that she plans to present legislation on the issue this year, but promotes citizens engagement as the best chance for success and survival.

“In this time of remembering, I think of the gentle people of Sanford, and thank you for the kind integrity and trust you’ve shown me, which I’ll continue to defend and honor in Augusta,” Boland said. “The Government Oversight Committee gives me special opportunities to focus on effectiveness, transparency and accountability in government and government-related industry. In all things, I’ll focus on defending us — families, individuals, small businesses — against the powerful special interests that threaten democratic process and our well-being and opportunities.”